


Femslash February: Alyanette Edition

by breeeliss



Series: Femslash February 2017 [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Angst, Beach Day, Bike Rides, Clothing swaps, Confessions, F/F, Flirting, Girlfriends - Freeform, Kissing, Making Out, Office AU, Reliving Rom-Com Tropes :P, friends - Freeform, gossiping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9644600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeeliss/pseuds/breeeliss
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one shots devoted to Alya and Marinette in honor of Week 2 of Femslash February 2017.2/8 - On Wheels: Marinette has some corny rom-coms she wants to relive, and Alya doesn't have the heart to deny her2/9 - Flowers: When she inevitably grows bored in class, Marinette doodles flowers all over Alya's arms.2/10 - Sunlight: A lighthearted beach day where the topic of discussion is "wow it took you two forever to get together."2/11 - Style Swap: It all started because of Marinette’s going theory about Alya’s fear of heels.2/12 - Aquarium: There's a cute intern working in the office across from Marinette's, and she can only see her through the aquarium tank separating their offices.2/13 - Theme Park: Alya and Marinette take a day trip to the local theme park to let off some necessary steam.2/14 - Valentine's Day: The corniness and sentimentality that comes with Valentine's Day is really only worth it when you've found the right person.





	1. On Wheels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette has some corny rom-coms she wants to relive, and Alya doesn't have the heart to deny her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! alyanette this week! this should be fun :)

“Marinette, I’m like ninety percent positive this is against traffic laws.”  


“Ssssshhhhhhh. Shush. Hush hush. None of that.” Marinette had her finger pressed against Alya’s lips as she prepared herself to give the same monologue she’d already given _five times._  “Traffic laws should never get in the way of two girls trying to live out their teenage romcom fantasies. This is in all of the movies. Why would the media promote something so romantic if it was illegal? It just doesn’t make sense, Alya.”  


Alya snorted. “You...do realize the media lies, right? Like, this is the same media that tells us that love at first sight is real and that your future wife is a barista at some coffee shop out there somewhere.”

“Um, excuse me, I fell in love with you at first sight and nobody is stopping you from working at a cafe so that I can flirt with you and we can get married.”  


“Marinette, you cannot ride on my bike like this,” Alya said in between laughter. ‘You’re gonna bust your ass and then I’m going to have to carry you home.”  


She shrugged. “I’m not seeing the problem here.”

“Okay, if you’re going to be sitting on the handlebars, I can’t see around you. We’ll crash.”  


Marinette gasped. “But I’m literally the tiniest thing! You could easily peek around me. And besides. I can be your eyes, just trust in the power of love.”

“Marinette, you’re going to die. _We’re_  going to die. Adrien and Nino are going to have to explain to our parents that we died because you wanted to relive some American movie you watched last night.”  


“Ahhh! Don’t you do that,” Marinette said, tapping Alya on the nose. “You watched the movie and said, and I quote, ‘ _That was the most adorable thing I’ve seen to date.’_ I’m riding on the handlebars of your bike and we’re going to look adorable as heck and everyone is going to be super jealous.”  


Alya leaned her elbows on the handlebars of her bike and stared at Marinette who was standing in front of her, fists on her hips and wrinkling her nose in that cute way she did when she was really adamant about something and wasn’t about to take no for an answer. She already knew that she was going to say yes to this -- Alya hadn’t quite figured out how to say no to Marinette yet -- but she had to at least give her a little bit of a hard time about this because, honestly, sometimes Marinette took things way too seriously. 

Romantic comedies were Marinette’s weakness, and she seemed to get particularly emotional during those parts in the movies where someone pulled some corny, sentimental, over-the-top gesture to impress the person they were crushing on. Alya found the movies cute, but wasn’t so easily won over by all the gimmicks. Meanwhile Marinette had texted her at three in the morning one night asking her how much boom boxes would cost so that she could blast music from underneath Alya’s window. Alya still wasn’t sure if Marinette was kidding. She wouldn’t put it past her to actually buy one. 

It was all a bit dramatic, because Marinette was a dramatic person, but Alya found it much too adorable to shut down. That being said, she was almost sure what they were about to do was liable to get them a traffic ticket. 

Alya rubbed her temple and sighed. “Alright, if we’re going to do this, it can only be around the block. If we go along the main streets, someone is going to catch us.”

Marinette jumped a foot into the air. “YES! You’re the best, oh my god, this is going to be so much fun. Ooooooh, yikes. How do I get up?”

Alya pulled Marinette so that she was standing in front of her bike. “Here, turn around. Face forward. And put your hands back on the handlebars. Now just....hoist yourself up.”

Marinette stuck her tongue out from the corner of her mouth in concentration, but the force of her push made the bike tip to the side which almost made both girls topple down the ground. Marinette screamed out in shock and Alya had to reach out quickly and grab Marinette by the waist before she wiped out across the asphalt. “Okay,” Alya grunted. “Okay, that was a dud. Try again.”

“How about if you hold onto me?” Marinette suggested. “Just keep my hips steady while I jump.”  


Alya reached over to pull down her kickstand and planted both feet on the ground. “Alright, try it again. I got you this time.”

“Okay, let’s do it on three. One....two...three!”  


It still wasn’t exactly graceful, but Alya managed not to lose her balance and helped Marinette plant herself comfortably on top of Alya’s handlebars. Marinette pumped both of her fists up into the air and cheered. “We did it! Oh man, we’re going to look precious.”

Alya took Marinette’s hands and planted them behind her so that they were holding onto the handlebars while Alya wrapped her fingers around the grips at the very ends. “Here, you have to hold on otherwise you’re going to fall. You good?”

“Yup! Drive away!”  


Turns out, it was decidedly more difficult to ride a bike when someone was sitting on the handlebars. Who would’ve thought? Marinette’s weight meant that Alya had to put more work into keeping the bike upright as she pedaled, and she had to lean just a touch to the right so that she could watch the road over Marinette’s shoulders. It was a good thing the girl was short enough that it wasn’t too much of a hassle. In fact, once they travelled a couple of blocks and Alya got the rhythm down, she understood the appeal. 

Marinette seemed to be having the time of her life, straightening her legs out in front of her and tipping her head towards the breeze that was blowing against her face as they rode down the street. She was laughing and humming along to the soundtrack of the movie they watched together last night, and waving to a few people walking along the sidewalk who were cooing and laughing at the sight. 

They went around the block once without seeing any police officers, so Alya decided to buckle down and take the turns a little bit quicker just to make the ride more fun. One of Marinette’s braids came out and her hair was flying in Alya’s face, but she didn’t much care about that. Marinette was squealing and giggling every time Alya picked up speed and tried zig-zagging down the street in the way the couples from the movies did. Eventually, Marinette tricked Alya into singing along to all the songs she was humming, and honestly, Alya shouldn’t have even been surprised about that. Marinette was a lot to keep up with, but Alya couldn’t even pretend that she didn’t like running alongside her when they did silly things like this. 

Any crazy idea the two of them came up with was always going to be worth it. 

“Is this what the rest of the summer is going to be like?” Alya joked over the wind. “You stealing ideas from movies and making us test them out in real life?”  


“Don’t see why not,” Marinette shrugged. “It’s boring to just keep going to the park and and going to the movies. It’s our last summer before lycée. We have to commemorate it with fun somehow.”  


“Guess I didn’t think of this as a landmark summer for us,” Alya shrugged. “Though you do have a point.”  


Marinette whistled a little tune that was stuck in her head before she spoke again. “Adrien was telling me about all the effort he was going to put in to make sure he and Nino hung out everyday this summer. No matter what his father said. They were going to hang out. I appreciate that kind of conviction. I want us to do that too.”

Alya lifted a quick hand to tuck Marinette’s hair behind her ear. “We hang out almost everyday regardless.”

“No, I know,” Marinette said, kicking her legs in the air. “But now it’s time for us to level up! We have to hang out every day, and then do something new every day! Like giving me rides on your handlebars or having picnics in the park at midnight. You know. Stupid summer stuff. But it won’t be stupid because we’ll be doing it.”  


That was all the convincing that Alya needed. “Midnight picnics are cute,” she agreed. “You can finally come over to my house and show me how to make those truffles you’re so good at making.”

“I’ll make us a calendar,” Marinette decided. “Friend Time 2.0 set aside for everyday this summer. And we have to keep with it. No slacking!”  


“Wouldn’t dream of it, babe.”  


Eventually, a police officer did catch them and kindly asked Marinette to get down from the bike. Luckily for them, the officer let them off with a warning and gave them a warm smile as she bid the two girls a wonderful afternoon. 

“Well,” Alya sighed. “That was fun while it lasted.”  


Marinette smiled, slipped a hand around Alya’s shoulder, and leaned over to give her a quick kiss. “Yeah, it was fun,” she agreed. “Thanks for humoring me. Wanna get some coffee? I’m starving.”

Alya grinned back and stole one more kiss before she climbed off of her bike. “Sure. But let’s walk there this time.”


	2. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When she inevitably grows bored in class, Marinette doodles flowers all over Alya's arms.

One of the first things Alya learned about Marinette was that she doodled flowers when she was bored. 

They started off as small, blossoming roses in the corners of her notebooks that weren’t any larger than the tip of her pinky. If you left her to it for long enough, she’d wrap vines, leaves, ladybugs, caterpillars, bees, birds, clouds, and more flowers all around the margins of her book. Sometimes, she’d sneak her colored felt pens and highlighters to school and add in whorls of colors and outlandish patterns until her entire notebook page was covered with fields and gardens and windowsills dripping in plants. She’d always take a picture of it on her phone -- to turn it into an embroidery, or a screen print for a t-shirt, or a design for a book cover -- and pout pitifully for Alya to send her copies of her notes. 

It blended seamlessly into the normality that was Marinette -- the color pink, pigtails, the smell of bread, pinpricks on fingertips, different nail polish everyday, humming music under her breath, and doodling flowers in class. 

One day, Alya’s hand was right next to Marinette’s notebook, and Marinette continued the doodle from the edge of the page onto the back of Alya’s hand. Alya raised a brow when she started, but shrugged when Marinette asked if it bothered her. As far as idiosyncracies went, Marinette’s were all rather harmless. Besides, it was rather nice to take notes with one hand and feel the light brush of Marinette’s pen sketching away against her other. 

It always took three washes in the shower to get all the pen out, and her mother kept worrying her with folk knowledge about skin cancer and ink poisoning, but Alya didn’t like showing up to school the next day with the sketches still on her arm. It almost felt like her duty to give Marinette a blank canvas everyday, to encourage her darling little habits that were secretly the highlight of Alya’s day. 

“Why flowers?” she asked Marinette as she added yellows and oranges to the sunflowers she was drawing along the vein inside of her wrist. 

Marinette tapped the end of her pen against Alya’s nose. “Pretty flowers for a pretty lady.”

“How flattering,” Alya joked. “Do you sweet talk all of your notebooks like this too?”

“Of course,” Marinette chuckled, extending her horizon down Alya’s arm so she could add another row of flowers. “Nah, they’re just easy to draw. Mindless enough that I can half pay attention to the lesson.”

“You could just pay attention to the lesson and doodle later,” she teased. 

But Marinette gripped Alya’s arm and held it still as sketched. “Noooo, physics is so boring. Besides, you and Adrien are better at explaining it. And god forbid I want my art advertised.”

“To who? My family?”

“Yes. Their approval is very important to me.”

“I actually think my mom loves sunflowers, so that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Look at that! I’m psychic too! Sometimes I surprise even myself.”

Marinette started taking pictures of Alya’s arms as well, and she’d send them to her at the end of every class. Alya just sort of kept them in their own little album in her phone and flipped through them when she was waiting for the bus or laying in bed at night trying to fall asleep. Sometimes, they were incredibly simple -- like a long chain of tulips wrapping around her wrist. Sometimes, during long periods, Marinette would manage to create abstract drawings filled with rings of daisies with hearts in the middle, swirling clouds that circled fields of violets, and shining suns with beams turning into longer vines of leaves and flower buds that left Alya reeling from the detail of it all. On the weekends, when she knew she wasn’t going to see Marinette the next day, she’d avoid washing it off just so she could trace all the lines and patterns with her fingertips and marvel at the talent. 

It almost seemed like something Alya _could_  force meaning into if she really wanted to. Like those moments where you realize you’re the exception, and your heart wants to add sentimentality where it doesn’t necessarily belong. But it was such a mundane habit the two of them shared, that it seemed silly and self-indulgent to even hope for something like that. Even selfish to demand more of something that was already special and perfect. 

Adrien laughed when she moved to sit next to him in class one day to work on the literature project they partnered up to complete. “Daffodils today, huh?”

“Sometimes I have to look them up online,” Alya said. “She drew amaryllises the other day. I didn’t even know that’s what they were called.”

He gestured for her arm. “Can I see? I was watching while she was drawing on you today, she was concentrating so hard.”

“Yeah, she added butterflies to this one and started getting all crazy with the wings and the lines and stuff,” Alya mused. “It’s pretty with all the red and purple added in, but it’s going to take forever to wash off.”

“Well, that’s Marinette. Putting 110% into everything.” Adrien turned her wrist to the left and squinted at one of the designs. “Huh. I didn’t know she writes things, too.”

Alya frowned. “She doesn’t write anything. Not that I know of anyway...”

Adrien shrugged. “Then maybe I’m just seeing things. Thought for sure that looked like an ‘M’.”

“Where?”

“Right here. Above the bone in your wrist. Next to the tree with the red leaves.”

Alya checked where Adrien was pointing, and sure enough, there did look to be something that resembled an ‘M’ resting just underneath a flower petal that was lying right next to a great tree that took up half of Alya’s arm. “Huh. You’re right. Does look like a letter.”

“Could be just an accident.”

“I dunno,” Alya squinted. “Hard to accidentally draw an ‘M’. Plus, it’s just under the flower lying there out of nowhere.”

Adrien tapped his pen against his lips. “Maybe it’s just her signature, you know? Doesn’t she monogram ‘M’s on everything?”

Alya hummed. “Yeah, she does. But, what, she’s signing my arms now?”

“She did say she wanted you to show off her art,” Adrien chuckled. 

“Well, damn, good to know I’m her new canvas,” she said, pretending to sound annoyed. “I thought she was kidding about that.”

“Marinette doesn’t strike me as much of a kidder,” Adrien said. “I mean you definitely know her more than I do, but it always seems like she’s got a reason for doing something you know?”

Alya ran her thumb across the letter. “Yeah....that’s true.”

She pointed it out to Marinette as a joke the next morning. Marinette contained her smile by biting her lip, dipped her head so that her bangs covered her face, and muttered, “Yeah, that’s me. Signing everything...”

“Guess you’re serious about me advertising your art, huh?”

“Yeah...” Marinette said absently. “I never kid.”

Alya spent the entire walk back to her house from school looking for Marinette’s initial on her arm, wondering where she’d hidden it that day. Except, Alya never found an ‘M’. Instead, she found an ‘E’ written along the vine wrapping around her thumb. The day after that, it was what she was sure was a ‘J’. Then, another ‘E’. 

Was it a message? A word she was trying to spell out?  _MEJE_  hardly meant anything, unless she’d caught Marinette in the middle of a word or a sentence. Maybe it was a joke she was trying to spell out, or some silly message that she wanted to sneakily place into her art. Like that time Marinette sent her ten texts that were just pictures that was supposed to say “Please help me I am very hungry and very sad.”

“Maybe it’s in another language?” Nino offers when Alya shows him the ‘T’ on her sleeve of buttercups that Marinette drew on her arm during maths. “Doesn’t she know Chinese?”

“Barely,” Alya smirked. “Plus, wouldn’t she just use characters and not letters?”

“I guess so.” Nino laughed and twisted Alya’s arm around to stare at the design that was looping around all of her fingers today. “Must be something really important. She’s putting a lot of work into these doodles. You might as well get one of these tattooed.”

“Watch it be a meme she found on the Internet the other day. If it is, I’ll kill her.”

An ‘A’ and an ‘I’ came next, and then another ‘M’ before the letters started to repeat. Alya waited until she was home and typed in all the letters she’d gotten so far: _MEJETAIMEJ._

It seemed like nonsense to her at first, and Alya blamed the late hour for making her miss what was so obviously right in front of her face the entire time. But she blinked at the letters right in the middle of the jumble and felt her chest tighten a little. 

_JETAIME._

_Je t’aime._

She had to rewrite all the letters four times over to make sure she didn’t miss one, to make sure they were all in the right order, to make sure that she wasn’t just projecting her feelings onto something as innocuous as silly little messages left in the doodles that Marinette left on her arms. But Alya wasn’t wrong, and that may have been the most confusing and frustrating part of all of this. It didn’t make any sense. They told each other they loved each other all the time. They were best friends, of course they loved each other. Maybe it was just that. Maybe it was just a cute little message from a friend that she wasn’t meant to read into. Maybe. 

Or maybe there was a reason Marinette wasn’t just _telling_  her. Because it was heavier than it had been before. So heavy that Marinette couldn’t bear to say it with a new meaning -- a meaning that could very well add a different filter to everything. 

Alya waited for more days -- waited for the ‘E,’ ‘T,’ ‘A,’ and ‘I’ -- until it was Saturday and they were lying down on Marinette’s bed, limbs tangled together, watching a movie on the laptop balanced on Alya’s stomach. Her right arm was held up while Marinette started drawing roses on her wrists again. 

Alya cleared her throat and lowered the volume on the movie. “It’s an ‘M’ today again. Isn’t it?”

Marinette’s pen stilled for only half a second before she continued shading in a petal. “So you figured it out?”

“Pretty sure,” Alya muttered. She was hyper aware of the feeling of Marinette’s head pressed up against her temple and Marinette’s nose that was tucked against her neck. She swallowed and tried to make her voice sound stronger than her resolve felt. “I...I love you too.”

“But do you?” Marinette muttered, keeping her eyes on her pen and on Alya’s arm. “I mean, really honestly. Do you? Because....i-if you don’t, it’s fine. I just...sometimes I feel like I have all these things I want to tell you and I don’t know how to say them. So I just...picked the best thing that fit. But if you don’t....I mean, I don’t have to -- ”

“You’re rambling, babe,” Alya interrupted gently. 

Marinette laughed against her skin. “Sorry. I’m not very good at this sort of thing. And I don’t want to freak you out.”

“Nothing you do could freak me out, Mari. You don’t have to worry about that” Alya assured. “I’m not freaked out.”

“So then....what are you?”

Things with Marinette always felt so natural, like one thing bled seamlessly into the next. Nothing felt jarring and nothing felt strange enough to need a period of time to settle and adjust. Things just _were_ , and no matter what came up the two of them molded into it perfectly without ever needing to explain or defend. Alya wondered if this was exactly what was happening now. Because Alya had always loved Marinette, always loved her with all her heart. She traced back along the past year to see if that love turned into a _love,_ if that comfort turned into a need, if those changes were even the sorts of things you could track and notice. But there was never a sharp jolt or jump to indicate a change. Alya wouldn’t be surprised if one morning she woke up, got dressed for school, saw Marinette stumbling into class with only seconds to spare before the bell and realized _ah!_  There it was. There were all the small letters left behind like clues forming together into something beautiful that Alya could treasure deeply. 

It took no work. Smooth. Effortless. Everything always easy. 

_What are you?_

Alya shut her eyes and pressed a small, short kiss on Marinette’s lips, smiling at the gasp that jumped up from Marinette’s throat and past Alya’s lips. They pushed back against hers as Marinette kissed her back, and for such a brief moment the whole world stilled and everything felt perfect and righted. 

“I’m happy.” 


	3. Sunlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lighthearted beach day where the topic of discussion is "wow it took you two forever to get together."

So...the original plan was to take a day trip to Normandy. 

Alya had been getting restless staying in the city during the summer, so she brought up the idea of going to some of the beaches along the coast. Marinette had been talking her head off about the beach since the Spring, so she figured it would be a cute date idea and something that they could handle in a day trip. Juleka and Rose had offered to tag along and bring blankets and snacks, and they were in Marinette’s bakery figuring out the details. 

But Sabrina and Chloe happened to be there picking up a pastry order, and just the word _Normandy_  had Chloe stalking over to their table in complete disgust. Alya was bracing herself for some silly, spoiled little tirade, but instead Chloe took actual _offense_  to the fact that they were thinking of going to the Northern beaches. 

“Normandy is so damn cold even in the middle of the summer, and the beaches down by St. Tropez are way nicer.”  


“You realize that St. Tropez is like eight hours away driving, right? This was supposed to be a day trip,” Marinette muttered.   


Chloe snorted. “So? Listen, I’ll not stand around and listen to you all plan a girls’ day out at a beach that’s not even worth it. At least St. Tropez is warm and the resort beaches will treat you like royalty. Honestly, that I even have to explain this...“

“Well, uh,” Rose spoke up. “We really don’t have the money for anything like that, as nice as that sounds.”  


“Yeah, you’re apparently dripping in euros, do you have any suggestions?” Alya sneered.   


Sabrina chuckled and leaned towards the table, lowering her voice just a tad. “Sorry, Chloe’s really bad at extending invitations.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Extending an invitation?”  


Turns out that Chloe’s father let her invite as many girlfriends as she wanted to St. Tropez every summer for a weekend at one of the beach resorts, and usually the Bourgeois’s had enough clout to reserve most of the beach for themselves. In the past, it had always been just Sabrina and Chloe along with a few of her father’s friends, but Sabrina promised that, as long as the rest of them were alright with spending a weekend away from home, they were more than welcome. Chloe was off to the side -- arms crossed and looking sour faced -- but muttered something about texting her father regarding extra plane tickets. 

So Marinette called up Alix and Mylene to ask if they wanted to join them for a girls’ beach day. And not even a few days later, they were all flying down to St. Tropez, plane tickets, hotel rooms, and Chloe’s platinum credit card all on behalf of Andres Bourgeois himself. 

They were all set up and tanning in a long line along the beach in the early afternoon on the Friday that they arrived. Chloe even set a timer on her phone so that they could all toast for half an hour on each side before going into the water. Alya had to hand it to her -- she didn’t like Chloe, but this was really _really_  nice. She had to remember to convince Marinette to sneak into the hotel’s hot tub with her later that night. 

“So here’s a thought,” Alya said. “Marinette, when you become a rich and successful designer with your own label one day, can we make this our honeymoon spot?”  


“Of course,” Marinette replied immediately. “So long as you also take me to New York City when you finally become a world renowned reporter and can take me anywhere in the world.”  


“Hell yes. And we’ll get your hamsters so long as I can get my dog.”  


Marinette held up her hand and waited for a high five from Alya. “Fabulous.”

Juleka giggled and peeked over the edge of her sunglasses. “You two are adorable.”

“Listen, I already called dibs on designing our wedding dresses. I have been dreaming about this since I was seven. Of _course_  I have my life planned out.”  


“Listen,” Alya laughed. “This girl has wedding invitation designs set up already. Planned out doesn’t even begin to cover it.” She grappled around for the sunscreen in her bag and threw it over to Marinette. “Re-do your face, babe, so you don’t burn your cheeks again.”  


Marinette pouted. “I put a bunch on already.”

“Remember that time I rubbed aloe literally everywhere when we went to the beach last summer? You’re pale, you burn at the drop of a hat. Re-apply.”  


“Fine, _mom.”_

Chloe’s cellphone went off and she snapped her fingers. “Flip ladies!”

They all rolled over onto their stomachs, and Chloe propped herself up on her elbows. “You know, as disgustingly domestic as the two of you are, you two took for-fucking-ever to start dating. I mean, Jesus, Adrien and I _both_  tanked our bets because you took way longer than either of us thought.”

Marinette frowned. “Wait, what? You were betting?”

“Just Adrien and I,” Chloe sniffed. “I may not like you, but as a fellow sapphic girl, I can’t help but root for two ladies in love. But, you know, thanks for dragging it out for over a year.”  


“It was not over a _year_ ,” Alya rolled her eyes.   


“Um,” Alix snorted. “Dudes, I kept a fucking _calendar_ counting down the days until this happened. Kim damn near cried when you two started dating, oversized romantic baby that he is.”  


“Hold on,” Marinette interrupted. “Who else was rooting for us?”  


"Well Adrien and Nino threw that literal celebration party, don’t you remember?” Alya mentioned. “Which was so extra and not necessary, but whatever.”

“The one at Adrien’s place that was supposed to be a ‘lycée graduation party’?” Marinette air quoted.   


“That’s the one.”  


“Well, ever since Chloe told me that she was sure the two of you were in love with each other, I’ve been dying for it to happen too,” Sabrina smiled. “It was super obvious to me.”  


Rose raised her hand. “Juleka and I were rooting for you two since day 1.”

Juleka shrugged. “Rose was really invested in it. I was just glad the two of you were becoming so close.”

“Ivan noticed it sooner than I did actually,” Mylene piped in. “But once he told me to pay attention to the two of you more, I was also getting some vibes from you two. This seemed like a natural enough thing to happen.”  


Marinette looked up to the sky. “Why didn’t we know this?”

“Because you two are the most ridiculously oblivious people on the whole goddamn planet,” Chloe said with an eye roll. “I mean, honestly, not hard to tell that more than half the girls in our class weren’t straight. The rest of us were all coupled off practically waiting for the two of you to make it official. The most goddamn frustrating thing to ever watch. And I’ve seen every season of ‘The Bachelor.’”  


“ _Okay_ ,” Alya groaned. “We were not being _oblivious_. We got together at a perfect time.”  


Chloe snorted. “Show of hands: how many people were annoyed as hell that they took this long to get together?”

Everyone’s hands shot up into the air. 

“You guys were literally flirting at every available opportunity, but the funny thing is that I don’t think you guys even realized you were doing it,” Alix said.   


“They were so close, I’m sure it was hard for them to tell,” Sabrina offered.   


Juleka snorted. “There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see.”

Marinette pouted. “I feel attacked...”

“I think it’s more a matter of the two of you needing to make up for lost time at this point,” Mylene giggled. “We’re all just poking fun, you know that.”  


“Not me,” Chloe said, “I’m straight up judging and attacking.”  


“It wasn’t that easy,” Alya defended. “I was new, I kinda just wanted to get my friend group solidified without adding in any dating drama.”

“Despite the fact that Marinette is like the most aggressively bisexual person I know?” Alix joked.   


Alya covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t want to be creepy.”

Marinette shrugged. “I thought you were straight, if I’m being honest. But I’m bad at picking up vibes from people.”

“In what _solar system_ ,” Chloe exclaimed, “did you think Alya was straight?”  


“I don’t know!” Marinette exclaimed defensively. “Since when are you the freakin’ gaydar expert?”   


“Since birth!” Chloe scoffed. “It’s a survival mechanism, you amateur.”  


“Okay,” Rose laughed. “We’re losing track of the conversation. The whole point being, we’re just glad you two are a couple. It’s refreshing! Really, we’re all just happy for you.”  


Alya smiled. “I mean, good to know we had the class support. Now I have to interrogate all the guys about this.”

“Rest assured,” Mylene said. “Adrien and Nino did the work of ranting to all the boys in class about this. Ivan can attest. That ‘graduation party’ really was a collective celebration in every sense of the phrase.”  


“So tell me,” Marinette mused, staring at Chloe. “Was this an excuse to get us a girlfriend getaway because you were secretly fangirling for us on the side?”  


Chloe refused to look up from her phone. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. Sounds nothing like me...”

Sabrina took advantage of the distraction and mouthed a ‘ _yes’_ to the rest of the group with Chloe wasn’t looking. 

“Well,” Alya sighed. “We’re here for an entire weekend. Might as well start ticking things off your beach bucket list if you’ve got one. Getting some sun is done.”  


Marinette clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh! We can make sandcastles later! And run along the shore! And come here at night for a walk when the sand is all nice and cool. And play beach games!”

“ _Domestic!”_  Chloe shouted.   


“Oh hush, let them have their fun,” Sabrina chided. “Making up for lost time, remember?”  


“Wanna have a beach volleyball match tomorrow?” Alix suggested. “Bet you Mylene and I can kick your asses.”  


“Oh, and we can all watch the sunset from the lobby of the hotel. It has all those gorgeous windows with that amazing view,” Rose gushed. “It’ll be perfect.”  


“Those restaurants looked pretty fancy too,” Juleka offered. “Romantic dinner on Chloe’s tab? You should take advantage.”  


Alya knocked her head with Marinette’s. “Writing all this down, babe?”

Marinette winked. “Making an itinerary as we speak...” 


	4. Style Swap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all started because of Marinette’s going theory about Alya’s fear of heels.

It all started because of Marinette’s going theory about Alya’s fear of heels. 

“You never wear them!” Marinette cackled during lunch. “I’ve never seen you in a pair of heels once!”  


“That doesn’t mean I’m afraid of them,” Alya sighed. “I just don’t like wearing them. They’re uncomfortable.”

“I was texting you pictures of those heels I wanted to buy online last night and you responded with a nauseated face emoji followed by the fearful face emoji,” Marinette announced, checking her old texts. “That sounds like fear and disgust to me.”  


Adrien and Nino were huddled together overhearing the conversation. “Oh damn,” Nino whispered in awe. “Marinette pulled out receipts.”

“The plot thickens,” Adrien muttered.   


“Okay, _that’s_  taken out of context,” Alya defended. “You’ll remember that I said that after you showed me an eight inch pair of heels and said, and I quote, ‘wouldn’t these look so cute on you?’”  


“They still would.”  


“They’re _eight inch heels_ , babe.”  


Adrien raised a hand. “I don’t know, Marinette’s got a pretty compelling argument, Alya. It’s just a matter of facts and evidence.”

“Gotta agree with Adrien,” Nino shrugged. “It’s fine, Alya. We’re all scared of something. Nothing to be ashamed of. Marinette’s just braver than all of us and wears heels almost every other day.”  


Marinette sighed. “It’s a gift and a curse.”

Alya stared incredulously between the three of them. “Okay, you’re all crazy, and I hate all of you, and this is such a dumb conversation. I could totally wear heels _if_  I wanted to.”

Nino snorted. “You think you have the guts to pull a Marinette? Girl _glides_  in heels, she makes it look way too easy.”

“I can pull a Marinette,” Alya insisted.  


“Wait!” Adrien exclaimed. “If Alya pulls a Marinette, then Marinette has to pull an Alya.”  


Nino gasped dramatically with a shit eating grin on his face. “Are you suggesting a style swap?”

“I am most definitely suggesting a style swap.”  


So Marinette went home that day, pulled out the old leather boots that she kept in the back of her closet, and started to hunt through her hangers for any sign of flannel. 

“ _You better not show up to school tomorrow in some weird caricature of me tomorrow.”_  


Marinette laughed into the phone pinched between her cheek and her shoulder as she held a pair of blue jeans in front of her waist. “I would never do that you to, Al. I will dress up as the beautiful, stunning, stylish girl who is terrified of heels that I see everyday and it will be fantastic.”

“ _Oh shut up!”_  Alya said over the phone. “ _I can’t believe you’re making me go through my skirt drawer. My_ skirt _drawer!!! You know I never go into that drawer.”_  


_“_ I don’t know why. You have some cute outfits in there. If we were the same size, I’d steal some.”  


“ _Speaking of the same size, why are your feet so small? Had we been the same shoe size I could’ve just borrowed your heels and called it a day. Now I have to find my own.”_  


_“_ Huh,” Marinette smirked. “Owns no heels. Interesting...”  


“ _I’m gonna hang up on you.”_  


_“_ Well, do you know how hard it is to find flannel?” Marinette said. “I just realized I own _no_  flannel. Seriously. The closest thing I have is a checkered sundress.”  


_“Oh well, look at that,”_ Alya said mockingly. “ _Maybe you’re afraid of flannel.”_  


“At least I admit to it.”  


“ _You are never going to let this go, are you?”_  


_“_ Of course not, silly, I love, remember, and appreciate all parts of you. Even your irrational fears.”  


“ _I love you. And I’m hanging up, you goof.”_

It took a couple of hours, but Marinette dug to the bottom of her boxes of old clothes and actually managed to find an old red and black flannel that was two sizes too big. Although, considering that she was dressing like Alya, it was the perfect size. Jagged Stone band t-shirt, leather boots, blue jeans, hair down, and glasses instead of contacts, and she was ready to go. She even crouched over her vanity for fifteen minutes trying to perfect the cat eye that Alya was always wearing. 

Marinette’s excitement actually had her walking into class before Alya, and Adrien immediately stood up from his seat and started his own round of applause. 

She did a little twirl and touched her hair, not used to having it loose. “Good?”

“Amazing! The glasses were such a good touch,” Adrien laughed. “The frames are almost exactly the same. How did you do that?”  


“I guess we just happened to have the same frames.” She pushed them up the bridge of her nose. “I haven’t worn these in months though. I have to get used to them again.”  


Nino chuckled. “Holy shit, you in combat boots is making my entire day. You pull this off really well.”  


“Thank you!” Marinette smiled. “These clothes are so comfy. I think I need to start buying more flannels.” She rolled up the sleeves to her elbows and put her hands on her hips. “I feel like I need to put myself in unnecessary danger and video tape something.”

“Well, let’s be honest,” Adrien said. “If there’s an akuma attack today, you might have to jump in and video tape the fight for her. She can’t run in heels and she’ll die if she missed that footage.”  


“Real talk,” Nino said. “Is Alya actually going to show up here in a skirt? Like a Marinette-level skirt? I think I’d actually die.”

Marinette bit her lip. “I feel like I’m more excited about this than I should be.”

“Hmm, excited to see Alya in a skirt?” Adrien leered.   


“Ah! The ulterior motive has made itself clear.”  


“Oh hush both of you,” Marinette scolded. “Don’t make it sound like that.”  


“Hey, no judgement. I totally understand where you’re coming from. If Nino came in wearing a button down and slacks, I’d probably freak out too.”

Nino raised a brow. “Would you like that?”

Adrien patted his arm. “We’ll talk about our own style swap later. I’m sure I can dig up a snapback somewhere.”

Nino was about to respond, but his eyes darted to the doorway of the classroom and coughed on air. “Oh _my_  God this isn’t happening!”

Marinette twirled around and felt her entire face light up in response. Alya was walking towards her desk, wearing heeled ankle boots, a pleated skirt, a knit sweater that Marinette remembered getting her for her birthday, and even braided her hair into two pigtails hanging over her shoulders. Alya held her hands out and let out a huge sigh. “The balls of my feet feel like they’re on fire, but I did it.”

Marinette squealed and pulled Alya into a hug, kissing both of her cheeks after she let go. “You look so cute!”

“I don’t know how you walk around wearing this stuff all the time,” Alya complained. “I’ve been in these things for like two hours and I’m already ready to die.”  


“I wear flats too, you know,” Marinette said. “You could’ve just worn those.”  


“I’m not the one insisting on my irrational fear of heels!” Alya responded. “I had to defend my honor.”

“You look.... _great_ ,” Marinette grinned. “Seriously. Super cute. You look absolutely wonderful in this skirt.”  


“I mean, I’m still in shock over the boots and glasses to be honest,” Alya laughed. “This is so spot on. You look hot in jeans and boots.”  


Marinette held a hand up to her chest and batted her lashes. “Aw, you’re too sweet.”

Nino nudged Adrien. “Are you seeing this?”

Adrien snorted, his camera phone aimed at the two girls. “Seeing this? I’m _recording_  this. This is a milestone in their relationship. I’m incredibly invested.”

“Wait,” Marinette said. “I have never seen these heels before. Where did you get them? Did you actually go out and buy something.”  


Alya bit her lip and averted her eyes. “...so I may have bribed someone for these.”

“Bribed?”  


“Turns out Chloe had been sitting on some Ladybug interview questions for the past year. I promised her I’d get her a full hour interview with Ladybug in exchange for a pair of heels I could borrow for one day. Found out from Sabrina that we’re the same show size. Who knew?”  


“She agreed to that!?”  


“She.... _really_  likes Ladybug. I wasn’t supposed to say anything but, screw it, I feel like you were short on blackmail material. I’m sure she’d love to have that re-hashed.”  


Marinette kissed Alya on the tip of her nose. “You’re so perfect. Also, you seriously don’t have to wear those heels all day.”

“Nope! Too late!” Alya announced, moving over to her desk. “Already fought for these heels for three hours last night with that drama queen. I earned them. Go hard or go home.”

Adrien was grinning from ear to ear. “So can we have a photo shoot during the lunch pause? This is going up on every social media site I can think of. You guys are so adorable.”

Nino hummed to himself. “We’re getting shown up, dude. We need to do this now.”

Adrien shrugged. “Hey. You can raid my closet and borrow whatever you need so long as you’re willing to do the same.”

“Style swap part two?”  


“ _Definitely_  style swap part two.”  



	5. Aquarium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a cute intern working in the office across from Marinette's, and she can only see her through the aquarium tank separating their offices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i guess this is like a weird AU where Alya and Marinette don't know each other and Adrien is a very eager wingman

She could see her through the aquarium in her office. 

Apparently, all the interns had to take the desk for a couple of hours everyday, never mind how impressive their portfolios were. Marinette could accept that. Today a designing internship. Tomorrow a scholarship to ESMOD. Day after that, her very own label. She could suck up taking desk calls, staring at spreadsheets, sending emails, and following the heels of her idols for the summer. 

Besides. The view wasn’t half bad.

She checked the directory outside two mornings ago and found out that the office across from theirs was an online magazine. If she peeked around all the Rosy Barbs and Angelfish meandering around the long aquarium tank stretching along the wall right across from Marinette’s desk, she occasionally saw people bustling by with manuscripts and cover proofs. But that wasn’t even the best part. 

By far the most interesting about the office was the beautiful girl who worked the front desk. 

They looked to be about the same age, so Marinette assumed she was also an intern. She spent her days staying at her desk -- probably sending emails and working on projects -- and only leaving to run off to meetings or go to lunch. Marinette honestly didn’t mean to stare, but sometimes there was nothing to do at her desk other than wait for the phone to ring. Her eyes would drift up and see that gorgeous girl, hair piled up charmingly on the top of her head, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose every few minutes, and yawning in front of her computer screen while she multitasked on her cellphone. 

Marinette _really_  wanted to ask her out to lunch, but she could never catch her outside the office. She sometimes meandered around the elevator during her lunch hour in the hopes that the girl would come out at the same time so that she could strike up a conversation, but their schedules never melded. Marinette tried to do the same at the end of the work day, but one of them was always staying late and finishing projects. All she had was her view through the aquarium tank. 

One of the models who worked for the label, Adrien, was about the only person who stopped by her desk everyday to have lunch with her and ask her about her day. It didn’t take him long to pick up on Marinette’s little hobby. He stopped by her desk one morning and poked her in the cheek when he caught her staring through the tank again. “You know, you could just make an excuse to go over there and talk to her.”

Marinette snorted. “And say what? ‘Hi, I’m Marinette, I think you’re cute and I’ve been creepily staring at you for the past two weeks. Wanna get coffee?’”

“What’s wrong with that?”  


“Everything,” Marinette complained, slumping in her seat. “Plus, she’s probably dating some dashing reporter or something.”  


“Or,” Adrien smirked. “She’s single and will think you’re cute if you just make yourself known.”

Marinette pouted. “I’ve tried to catch her outside the office for weeks. I can’t guess her schedule.”

Adrien shrugged and pointed to the aquarium tank. “You don’t need to. She’s right there during working hours and you two can technically see each other. Use that.”

“What? The aquarium tank?”  


Adrien winked and left her the cup of coffee he’d gone to fetch for her. “You’re a creative girl, Marinette. You can figure something out.”

For a couple of days, she was convinced that Adrien was just messing with her and saying things to make her feel better. But one day, when she was making paper cranes out of the post-its on her desk, she stopped, eyed the tape dispenser on the far end of her desk, and got an idea. 

She looked through the fish tank and saw that the girl was still sitting at her desk working. So Marinette took a pen, scribbled a quick message on the post-it note, and grabbed some tape. She rounded her desk and knocked on the glass of the tank, making the fish scatter underneath the plastic castle in the middle of their tank. The girl lifted her gaze from the computer screen and looked around the office before she made eye contact with Marinette through the tank. Marinette merely waved and attached her message. 

_Hi! I’m Marinette! :)_

Marinette quickly scurried off behind her desk and hid behind her computer monitor. She really didn’t feel like seeing the girl’s reaction to what was admittedly kind of a dorky idea, and she was sure Adrien was going to laugh at her when she told him about this later. But he said to use the tank to her advantage and this was the only thing she could think of. Ooooooh, but this was definitely weird. Who left notes for strangers like that? God, she couldn’t have just come up with something better? Maybe just marginally smoother? Maybe she could do all of her work for the next hour while saying behind the desk and out of sight.

But then, she heard a knock against the fish tank. Marinette poked her head out from behind the computer monitor and saw the girl standing in front of the tank, laughing and taping her own note to the fish tank. Marinette blinked and slowly walked towards the tank while the girl stayed in front of it, waiting for Marinette to read the message. 

_Nice to meet you. I’m Alya <3_

Marinette beamed at Alya through the tank and felt her stomach get all warm when Alya smiled at her back. Marinette took her note off from the tank, flipped it over, and wrote another message. 

_I hope this isn’t weird. I couldn’t figure how else to run into you._

Alya rolled her eyes fondly, and scribbled another message on the back of her original note. 

_Not weird at all. I was hoping I’d get to talk to you eventually_. 

Marinette let out a shaky breath and felt herself smiling without meaning to. She backed up towards her desk without taking her eyes off of Alya and grabbed the entire stack of post-its. She looked down the hall and made sure that none of her supervisors were watching her. She scribbled another note and stuck it to the glass. 

_You were hoping?_

Marinette drummed her nails against the glass, watching the fish cower away from her fingers as she watched Alya bit her lip to try and hold back her smile. The sight made Marinette bounce on her toes and eagerly await her reply. When Alya finally stuck the note to the glass, Marinette felt her heart speed up. 

_Of course. You’re really cute ;)_

Oh, Adrien was so going to be gloating about this when she told him. 

There were so many excited thoughts going through her head that she couldn’t get them together coherently enough to put them in a note. She could hear her supervisor coming down the hall -- probably to check on her -- so Marinette impulsively wrote her phone number on a post-it, taped it to the tank, and ran back to her desk in time for her supervisor to ask for all the messages that were left on the answering machine. Her skin was buzzing because she was so nervous and sitting on the edge of her seat in so much anticipation. Alya had gone back to her desk, and Marinette couldn’t come up with another excuse to go back to the tank to leave another message. But luckily, she didn’t have to wait long until she got a text message from an unknown number. 

_Yes? <3_

Marinette’s fingers were shaking, and it took her a couple of tries to get the message out, but she sighed in relief when she finally sent if off. 

_Would you want to get coffee at around noon? My treat :)_

She quickly saved the contact in her phone and gripped it in both hands as she watched the ellipses blinking on the bottom of her text window. She looked up to see Alya texting at her desk, laughing to herself and smiling into her hand in a way that made the apples of her cheeks pull up sweetly. When she finally finished sending her text, she sent a wink to Marinette through the glass tank and tapped on her cellphone. Marinette looked down at her screen, opened the text, and giggled in delight. 

_With a cutie like you? I’d be stupid to say no._

Marinette covered her face with her hands and screamed silently into them while she bounced in her seat. She peeked out from between her fingers to stare into the other office, but Alya was talking to her boss, probably ready to be whisked off to another meeting. Alya waved at her through the aquarium and sent her a quick text that she was going to be back in about an hour. Marinette sent over a belated wave and almost knocked over her coffee out of enthusiasm, and despite how absolutely clumsy it was, Alya still laughed as she disappeared from the office. 

Marinette puffed her cheeks out and lifted her knees up to her chest. “Aww, crap, I have a date, I have a date, what do you do on dates, oh my god...”

She slid out of her desk chair, snuck into the office, and went towards the back of the office where all of the studios were. Adrien was in the back prepping for his photoshoot set to start in an hour while Marinette snuck around all the cameras, slid next to him getting his makeup done, and pushed her cellphone into his lap. “Sorry. Don’t meant to bother you. I have a development.”

“Wait, what?” Adrien grinned. He picked up her phone and scrolled through the texts. He laughed brightly, ignoring the glare from his makeup artist as she tried to contour his cheekbones. “Please tell me you’re going to give me a play by play when you come back? And invite me to the wedding? And let me be your best man?”  


“Stop,” Marinette whined, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. “It’s just one date. It’s not a big deal.”  


“I don’t know,” Adrien sang. “You are blushing pretty badly right now.”

“Shut up!”

“Oh, this is so cute!” Adrien laughed. “You have to take pictures and show me! I told you just talking to her would work. To think that I can sense chemistry through an aquarium tank.”  


Marinette smirked. “If I give you credit for this, will you help me figure out what I’m supposed to say and do during this date?”

Adrien scoffed and patted her on the shoulder. “You don’t even have to ask.”


	6. Theme Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya and Marinette take a day trip to the local theme park to let off some necessary steam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the cauldron ride i mention is like the American-version of the teacup rides. y’all know the one.

Marinette pressed her car keys and two tickets to Parc Asterix in Alya’s hands one morning. “Let’s go on a day trip.”

She’d interrupted Alya while she was in the middle of typing an article she had due in a few days. But Alya grabbed the tickets and flipped them over in her hands to make sure they were real. “You blasted money on these? We haven’t gone to that place in years -- ”

“I know!” Marinette shouted. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, trying to control her tone. “I-I know I just....I wanna go now, okay? I just. I need to go, and I need you to come with me.”  


Alya frowned and pushed Marinette’s hair behind her ears, fingers getting caught in the tangles that Marinette hadn’t combed out in three days. “Okay, um. Let me just save this and get my coat. Then we’ll go, okay?”

Marinette waited in the living room -- sans makeup, in old clothes she never liked wearing out the house, hair uncombed and thrown into a bun -- while Alya packed them cold lunches and collected her money and credit cards. 

The akuma attack ten days ago was one of the scary ones that only ever cropped up a handful of times. The last one was over a year ago, far enough back to lull the city and Ladybug into a false sense of security and make this new one particularly horrifying. Alya wasn’t able to catch all the footage, but the rest of the Internet had filled in the gaps. See, when your wife was flying across the city and battling an akuma that could make objects and people disintegrate with a single touch, you couldn’t help but be filled with excitement and pride, and you feel privileged to even know someone as strong and selfless as that, let alone be married to them. 

But when you see her pinned down by that akuma, his hand hovering just above her face, poised to kill and not harm, you get snapped back to a sobering sort of reality that reminds you how much danger she puts herself in everyday. 

Apparently, she got away with only a singed cheek since Chat Noir had finally recovered from his injuries in time to save her. All was well in the end, and Alya had sobbed into Adrien’s shoulder that day, thanking him with a level of sincerity she hadn’t thought herself capable of. But Marinette had come home that day, called out of work for a week, left her discarded clothes on the floor of their bedroom, and crawled into bed. It was five days since then, and she hadn’t done much else but stay there. 

Alya decided to work from home that whole week to keep her company. Adrien had come over a couple of times, laid next to her in bed, petted her hair, cooked the three of them dinner while Alya tried to get Marinette to eat. Alya spent nights curled around Marinette, muttering lullabies in her ears so that she could try to get some sleep, but nothing worked. Adrien assured her that it was a scary situation, and she just needed time to snap out of it. Alya was willing to give her that time.   


But now....they were going to a theme park for the day. 

Alya and Marinette used to take trips to Parc Asterix every few months, but the habit fell off as the two of them became busy with work and the need to budget for things more important than theme park rides became much more pressing. It was a short drive from Paris, just under an hour or so, but this time the ride felt much longer. It was probably because Marinette hadn’t bothered to bring the playlists she always brought for the car ride, and because the car was absent of her charming, inane chatter. She was silent, her cheek pressed against the cold window as she looked out at the cars driving alongside them. 

Once they arrived and passed off their tickets, Marinette took off straight into the park. They’d been here so many times that they didn’t need a map to find the rides they wanted to, and it didn’t take long for Alya to notice that Marinette was sprinting towards the spinning cauldron ride. 

When they were little, Marinette always hated going on it. Marinette couldn’t stand spinning things and Alya would always spin the cauldron too hard and make Marinette sick. But Marinette jumped onto the queue and raced for the first open seat she could fine. Alya slipped in across from her and watched Marinette grip the wheel in the center with alarming force. “Don’t hold back.”

Alya reached forward and grabbed the wheel as well, feeling like this wasn’t the time to be denying her anything. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”  


The ride started, and Marinette put her whole body into turning the wheel. Alya helped pick up the slack until pretty soon their cauldron was spinning more quickly than anyone else’s. Alya could see Marinette’s face turning green, but that only made Marinette yank harder on the wheel to make it go as fast as it could possibly go. The colors and the noises outside the ride were blurring together and swirling more rapidly than even Alya was comfortable with, but they kept the speed going, faster and faster, right up until the ride was jolted to a jarring halt and it was time for them to get off. 

Marinette was shaking and breathing hard once it was over, and the two of them had to sprint to the nearest bathroom just in time for Marinette to drop to her knees and throw up in the toilets. The first time they’d gone on this ride together, Alya had accidentally made Marinette sick and they were in a similar situation as this -- Alya holding her hair back while Marinette emptied all of her nausea into the toilet bowl. But Alya wasn’t laughing, and Marinette wasn't cursing her existence. Marinette was panting and staring off into space, like she was thinking of going back on again. 

Alya helped her up off the floor. “Let’s go fill your stomach with something.”

They went back to the car to eat the sandwiches that Alya brought until the color came back to Marinette’s face and her stomach was settled. When they went back to the rides, Marinette started eyeing the roller coasters and didn’t ask Alya before she started forming the queue.   


They were waiting for their turn when Alya grabbed Marinette’s shoulder. “You....sure you want to get on?”

“Yeah,” Marinette mumbled. “I’m in the mood for a good scream.”  


The moment they were strapped into their seats and started the ascent to the top of the first drop, Alya reached over and grabbed Marinette’s hand. Marinette grabbed it back in an crushing grip, and the moment the coaster started to drop, they started screaming. 

Marinette loved roller coasters. She laughed during the rides and lifted her arms up in the air during the drops. This time her hands were down and she was screaming as loudly as she could manage. Alya joined her, understanding that sometimes, you needed an excuse to scream out all the rot festering in your heart and let it leave your body so that you wouldn’t have to hold onto it anymore. The ride ended, and Marinette had tears in her eyes, and Alya knew they weren’t from fear. Marinette scrambled out of the car, and led Alya to another coaster, and another, and another, and another. 

By the time Marinette was out of tears, and her throat was sore, Alya walked her to the other end of the park. “Let’s try the Ferris Wheel, okay?”

The sun was still out, so the queue for the Wheel wasn’t long at all. Alya did some clever pleading with the ride attendant to let them stay on for a few more revolutions than normal. Alya had stayed in the middle of her seat, assuming that Marinette would take the one across from her, but Marinette curled up against Alya’s side, draping her legs across Alya’s lap and wrapping her arms around her middle. It wasn’t until their car was too high up for anyone on the ground to see them that Marinette buried her face in Alya’s shoulder and started crying. 

“Somedays I feel like quitting, Al,” Marinette began mumbling. “And I know I won’t actually do it because the city needs me. I can’t be that selfish, it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else. But it’s _hard_  some days and I just don’t want to do it anymore, I just want things to be normal so I can be safe and keep you safe and the two of us can just be happy without anything complicating it.”

Alya smoothed her hair back and rubbed circles into her knee. “I know, babe,” she whispered to her. “I know, just let it all out.”

“And Adrien tries so hard, Alya, I trust him with my life,” she kept on. “I trust him with everything because I know he’d never let anything happen to me. He’d _die_  before he let anything happen to me, but he’s not perfect. He makes mistakes like me, and he almost didn’t make it that time. And it’s not his fault, it’s never his fault, but for a second I just kept thinking that I wasn’t going to get out of it, and that I was going to let everyone down.”

“You never have to worry about letting anyone down, Mari.” Alya was pressing kisses into the crown of her head in between sentences. “You have given all of us more than we deserve, all for nothing in return. You’re allowed to be selfish, and you’re allowed to be scared.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone,” Marinette sniffed. “I never want to leave you, you’re one of the most important things I have. I never want to leave you alone.”  


“And you’re not going to,” Alya assured, holding her closer to her side. “I know your job gets scary, and I know that I can’t even begin to understand the danger you put yourself in. But I trust you. I trust you and I trust Adrien. You two always come out of it in the end. You’re here and safe with me because you _always_  come out of it in the end.”  


Marinette gripped her shirt tighter and breathed in shakily against her neck while Alya let her cry. “You’re safe, babe. You’re here, and you’re with me, and we’re safe, and everything’s fine.”

They stayed on the Wheel until Marinette stopped crying and her eyes didn’t look quite so puffy. They cycled through some of the carnival games and went on a few more rides, just to use up the tickets they’d already bought. Marinette was still quiet through most of the day, but Alya caught her smiling during one of the shooting games they were playing and heard her laughing on the last free fall ride they’d gone on.

When they went back to the car park to go home for the evening, Marinette held Alya’s hand that wasn’t busy with the steering wheel. She cycled through her phone and actually plugged in one of the old road trip playlists she used to play whenever they went on long drives. Marinette leaned back into her seat, and breathed in the crisp evening air floating in through the open windows. “Thanks for coming with me. Sorry for....well. I feel a lot better now.”

Alya lifted Marinette’s hand and pressed a kiss to the wedding band on her finger. “I’d do anything for you. You know that.”

Marinette woke up the next morning, showered, loaded her laundry, and hummed along to the radio while she cooked breakfast for the two of them. She called her office and let them know she would be back to normal on Monday, and rattled to Alya about all the projects she was going to try and blast out tonight, no matter how unrealistic it seemed. 

Alya smiled at her fondly as she listened on, watching the brightness come back to Marinette’s eyes and laughing at her gesticulations that almost made her knock her mug of coffee over. 

Marinette had small cracks and fissures like everyone else, and knowing that she was Ladybug made them all the more obvious to Alya. But Marinette filled them with smiles, singing, hugs, kisses, and more warmth and beauty that Alya thought was even capable from another person. 

And Alya loved her with all her heart for it. 


	7. Valentine's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The corniness and sentimentality that comes with Valentine's Day is really only worth it when you've found the right person.

Somewhere in the back of Marinette’s head, she knew she should’ve heard her phone alarm by now. She was _supposed_  to have set it for half an hour so that she’d have enough time to get ready for school and actually make it on time. It certainly _felt_  like half an hour had already passed. Probably time to start getting dressed. 

Or. She could....not do that.

Yeah. That sounded better. 

Alya laughed. “I think you left your phone on Do Not Disturb again. It’s definitely been over half an hour.”

Marinette quieted her with another kiss, smiling when Alya groaned into her mouth at the feel of Marinette’s nails dragging along Alya’s back, pushing her tank top up inch by inch and revealing more warm skin for her fingers to knead into. “Alarm didn’t go off, doesn’t mean we have to get ready,” she muttered against her lips. 

“That....is a very poor argument,” Alya countered. 

“I can give you a better one.” She leaned up and trapped Alya’s bottom lip in between her own, gently biting down until Alya sighed out, growled a curse that Marinette didn’t quite hear, and kissed her back harder. Marinette smiled as she licked along Alya’s lips and moaned when Alya’s tongue slid gently against hers, making her toes curl into the sheets of her bed and grip the backs of Alya’s thighs. She could feel Alya tangling her fingers in her hair and only briefly bemoaned the hard time she was going to have combing out the tangles later. She was about to tell Alya to calm down with it, but then she started shifting and moving her hips against Marinette’s, and all coherent thought had zipped out of her head. She finished kicking her sheets and comforters to the foot of her bed to give them more room while she marveled out how her body was shivering and burning all at the same time. 

Marinette was barely aware of Alya’s cell phone ringing next to the pillows piled around them. Alya scrambled around for it blindly, answered the call, and put the call on speaker phone. Marinette took advantage of Alya’s distraction and started kissing, licking, and nipping down the side of Alya’s neck. She snickered when Alya accidentally let out a moan and shifted away from the slap Alya left on her shoulder. “This better be good.”

“ _You were the one who told me to call you twenty minutes before school started,”_  Adrien defended over the phone. “ _I have done that.”_  


_“_ Ugh, school is starting to sound increasingly more unappealing the more the morning goes on.” Alya bit her lip and sighed out her nose when Marinette started leaving small love bites on her collarbone. “Make sure I can cover those up later,” she whispered.   


“No promises,” Marinette smirked.   


“ _Oh my God, are you guys making out?”_  


_“_ It’s Valentine’s Day,” Alya defended. “You didn’t see me -- _ahh_  -- complaining about the kissing photo you and Nino posted on Instagram this morning. S-Super corny caption, by the way -- _mmhm~ --_ low-key judging.”  


“ _Stop groaning into the phone, I’m in_ school _. Nino can hear you and he’s sitting next to me.”_  


Nino leaned in closer to Adrien’s phone. “ _Stay safe ladies!”_

_“Stop encouraging them,”_ Adrien scolded. “ _Look, you guys have like fifteen minutes to get ready. Marinette’s running on ten lates this month. I doubt she needs another one.”_  


Marinette whined loudly. “But school is boring and Alya isn’t.”

“ _You guys will have two hours during lunch pause to run back home and keep making out. Nino and I won’t even be offended. We promise.”_  


_“If anything we’re probably going to run back to Adrien’s place and -- ”_   


_“Do nothing! Nothing that is anyone’s business but ours!”_  Adrien squeaked out. “ _Look just, hurry up, alright?”_  


Alya rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, we’re coming.” She hung up the phone and threw it over her shoulder and back onto Marinette’s mattress. She gently pushed on Marinette’s chest until Marinette flopped back against her pillows, pouting marvelously. 

“I don’t support this.”  


“Babe, if you’re late again, your parents are going to get another note home, and you’re going to get grounded again.”  


“Good. You can climb into my window and stay in bed with me all day while we cuddle and make out and eat all the Valentine’s chocolates we bought yesterday.”  


Alya paused for a moment. “....don’t make me consider that! We’re going to school. That’s final.”

Alya started climbing down the steps from Marinette’s loft while Marinette kept complaining. “But _Moooooooommmmm!!!!”_

_“_ Stop throwing a temper tantrum and get dressed,” Alya laughed. “We’re going to be so late.”  


Marinette sucked her teeth loudly and stomped down the stairs from her bed, grabbing up the brush on her vanity and roughly pulling it through her hair. “Valentine’s Day should be a holiday. We should get the day off.”

“You only say that because you aren’t single. This time last year you were saying we should ban it because it’s a capitalist and consumerist holiday.”  


“Alright,” Marinette shrugged. “We ban it, still get the day off, that way single people can do their thing, and we don’t have to leave our bed.”  


Alya sorted through Marinette’s closet and grabbed a tank top and hoodie that she’d left here the last time she stayed over. “That doesn’t make sense and you know it.” She stared in the mirror hanging on the door of Marinette’s wardrobe and prodded her neck. “Thanks for the bruises, by the way, you little trouble maker.”

Marinette grinned back at her sweetly. “They were placed there with _love_.”

“Fine, I guess it’s just a hoodie and jeans today.”  


“You look good in hoodies and jeans, I don’t know why you’re complaining.”  


“It’s because I have to wear hoodies literally all the time because of you. Exhibit A.”  


“You sounded pretty happy about it a minute ago.”  


“Ignoring you!”  


Marinette giggled and started packing her backpack while Alya shuffled through all of her homework sheets and bemoaned the fact that she’d completely forgotten to do her geography homework. They were definitely going to be a little worse for wear today -- Marinette’s hair was a lost cause and Alya wasn’t going to have time to do her makeup -- but Marinette was too hopped up on giddiness to even bother caring about what smart-aleck comment Chloe was going to throw at them today. It was a silly day to get excited over, and by itself it didn’t really mean anything, but their Valentine’s Days never felt like this. 

Before it always consisted of Marinette buying three cheap boxes of chocolates that were exactly the same -- one for Adrien, one for Nino, one for Alya -- and writing an especially long and heartfelt note on Alya’s to let her know that she was especially important to her. At some point, there would be bitter complaining about being single, spiteful rom-com marathons, and eating spoonfuls of leftover chocolate frosting from the bakery. It felt comfortably normal -- the sort of thing you always got up to with your best friend when the two of you had no one else to lean on except each other on those dark and romance-infested holidays. 

But it was a funny little coincidence when you and your best friend ritualize making fun of Valentine’s Day so much over the years that you eventually fall in love along the way and end up in the amusing position of wanting to recreate all of those gross, sappy, overly-affectionate gestures with each other. In reality, that was the only person that Marinette felt was even worth all of the scrambling around for presents and dates and long sleepovers for. 

She quietly opened up her desk drawer and pulled out the small chain she’d spent half her allowance engraving with Alya’s initials. She’d showed it to Nino and Adrien before deciding to give it to her, afraid to do something that felt so sentimental and meaningful without getting approval for it first, worried that gifts like this only four months in were simply too much. Both boys had stayed quiet for a moment, turning the charm over in their hands and holding the chain up to the light, before eventually letting their eyes soften in time with their growing smiles, telling her without any words at all that it was perfect. 

Being with Alya felt a lot like that sometimes -- like their affection and love grew and spread so quickly, quicker than it did for most people, but that it just made sense for them. There was no need to question how they became friends so suddenly, or how their friendship turned into a deep love without either of them even realizing it. Plus, that sort of unexpectedness was refreshing, sort of like opening up a new box every day and not knowing what beautiful thing you were going to end up with next. If she wanted her love life to be anything, it was an adventure. 

“Hey, Alya?”  


“Yeah, babe?” She was picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “You ready? We have like ten minutes to run over.”  


“Yeah, no I’m ready. But, uh. Can we wait a sec? I wanted to give you something.”

Alya fiddled around with the strap to her bag. “Give me what?”

Marinette smiled softly and pulled the chain out of the pocket of her jacket. She saw Alya’s eyes widened and interrupted her before she could speak. “Don’t freak out, it’s honestly nothing. I had the money to spend on it and I guess I wanted to commemorate our first Valentine’s Day as a couple. And I know that’s cheesy and sentimental, but I’m happy, so leave me alone.”

Alya blinked at the the silver chain hanging from Marinette’s fingers and laughed in disbelief. “Wait, stop it, all I got you was a stupid phone case with our picture on it.”

“Don’t call that stupid, I love it!” Marinette insisted. She walked behind Alya and tapped her shoulder to get her to lift her hair away from her neck. “And I didn’t do this expecting something crazy in return. I just had a good feeling about it, and decided to go for it. Fitting, when you consider our track record.”  


“How much did you pay for this?” Alya asked, holding the charm while Marinette fasted the clasp.   


“A bit, admittedly, but seriously. I was happy to do it.” She moved back in front of Alya and kissed the tip of her nose. “All I ask is that you actually wear it and not stuff in the back of your jewelry box like you do with all the other chains you own.”

“You know damn well this is the only chain I’m going to be wearing every day, right?”  


“I was hoping that was going to be the reaction.”  


Alya rolled her eyes and kissed Marinette again, softer, gentler, and with her fingers tracing circles on the apples of Marinette’s cheeks. “Thank you. And I don’t care what you say, I will think of a way to one up you next year.”

Marinette snorted. “You do that. I’ll go ask Ladybug if she’d be willing to do a Valentine’s Day exclusive next year.”

“See you can’t _do_  that, that’s cheating! What the hell do I do to beat that?”  


“You have a year to figure it out,” Marinette assured, looping her arm around Alya’s. “I have the utmost faith in you.”  


Alya fingered the chain around her neck and nodded. “I’ll do my best. Now come on. Let’s try and keep you from getting a late slip for the billionth time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking with me through this one! hope you enjoyed all the chapters, and look out for the next edition tomorrow! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


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